Civ IV Complete vs Civ V vanilla for a newcomer

Hello everyone. I've been interested in this type of game but whenever I start playing, it gets too complicated. I always get overwhelmed with what I have to do first, what to concentrate first and which research to do first.

I plan on trying it again and I was wondering which of the 2 will help me understand and learn.

So far, I've tried Sins of a Solar Empire and a very little bit of Civ V.

Civ V is a much more enjoyable experience than Civ IV. It's alot more beginner friendly also.

#4anonymous46773Posted 8/22/2014 7:46:38 AM

CIv 4 has a bigger focus on empire building and diplomacy while Civ 5 has a bigger focus on combat.

IIRC, Civ 4 actually has a pretty decent tutorial built in, but you should be able to get into either, especially since they have little suggestions on what to build next. Just do what they suggest for your first few games and you should do fine.---I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

#5Englandfc1966Posted 8/22/2014 7:47:45 AM

Get this instead http://store.steampowered.com/app/236850---http://steamcommunity.com/id/buffalosoulja

I liked Civ IV "vanilla" better than Civ V with all the expansions. Civ V without expansions sucks ass and with expansions is much better (but still not quite up to par in my opinion).

Basically they took a bunch of stuff out of Civ IV to make Civ V, and then with the expansions started putting it back in.

The one thing Civ V did right (in the expansions) is they made religion mean more... in Civ IV religion is pretty neutered so as to not offend anyone by inadvertently making religion X more powerful than religion Y. In Civ V they added ways to modify your religion so that you can pretty much build it into the way you want it.

Civ IV also runs quite a bit better on older computers though I know Civ V has a mode where you can turn the graphics down to almost nothing.

Civ V also has city states which act as little cities that aren't competing for world domination, and basically just throw tantrums until you do what they want (or stomp them into the ground). At first I thought it was neat, but after playing a while I started hating the way they wanted you to constantly appease them so they'd stay on your good side.

tl;dr Civ V has a lot of advancements over Civ IV but took all the expansions to make it worth playing. Civ IV doesn't have these advancements but the plain game was more fun to me... no expansion necessary.---http://raptr.com/badge/arleas/uc.pnghttp://www.speedtest.net/result/3635582762.png

#8SinfullyvannilaPosted 8/22/2014 8:18:34 AM(edited)

Civ 5 is easier to learn. Civ 4 is not difficult to learn though and has a great tutorial. It's just not quite as intuitive, and not as transparent as 5. I'd have to say 5 is better just because they really worked on the late game with the latest expansion.

Both great games. Definitely spring for Civ 5 complete when you see it on sale. If you're on the fence though, Civ 4 is much cheaper. I'd actually say it's kind of a waste of money to get just vanilla 5. Just because the expansions are such no brainers.---Yes, said game is worth $5. {3DS Friend Code 3050-7626-8586}

I'd take Civ 4 vanilla over Civ 5 vanilla or Civ 5 with Gods & Kings. I don't know about the other expansions for it. Civ 5 has enough annoying little quirks in it that I'm not sure it's really easier to learn than Civ 4. And anyway, no Civ game (or Alpha Centauri) has ever been THAT hard to learn. There's a learning curve before you get good at each game, but just start on a lower difficulty and explore the tech trees and experiment in battles until you get the hang of things.